MATERIAL FOR THE FOURTH (EXTRAORDINARY) ALL-RUSSIA CONGRESS OF SOVIETS[1]

Published:Source:Lenin
	  Collected Works,

      Progress Publishers,1971,

      Moscow,Volume 36,

      pages484-485.Translated:Andrew RothsteinTranscription\Markup:R. CymbalaPublic Domain:Lenin Internet Archive.You may freely copy, distribute,
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	commercial works. Please credit “Marxists Internet
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NOTES FOR A SPEECH AT A MEETING
OF THE COMMUNIST GROUP OF THE CONGRESS

1.Theturning-point: Oct. 25, 1917–Feb. 17, 1918 and
later.

2.Peaceat Brest-Litovsk and now ... (Trotsky versus
the supporters of revolutionary war)....

3. “Breathingspace.”

4.Economicburdens ... but what about Belgium?

5. “Betrayal.”A phrase.2 versus 10 and 200,000 versus
1,000,000.[2]

6.TheUkraine and Finland.

7.Thestandpoint of the peasant masses, the petty
bourgeoisie, the declassed soldier....

8.Classforces and the “obnoxious peace”. What about
the Russian bourgeoisie?

9.The“leftism” of the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries.

10.Even“despair”?

11.Usingthe “crack”, “contradictions”, the strategic
deployment of forces: Germany—Britain—Japan—
America....

N.B.:11 bis:Tilsit. Peace and war, their interconnection.

12.Bidingtime, retreating and waiting.What for? Who for? The international revolution.

13.Buildingup forces.For“defence of the fatherland”.
Discipline and discipline (up to and including draconic
measures).

NOTES FOR A REPORT ON THE RATIFICATION
OF THE PEACE TREATY

1.Understandthe turning-point in history, the shift
in the balance of classes and social forces.

2.The“independence” of the Russian revolution,
Feb. 23 (1917)–Feb. 11 (1918). (The causes.)

3.Triumphaladvance: Oct. 25 (1917)–Feb. 11 (1918).

4.Imperialism:an epoch of heavy defeats, retreats.
Not the same enemy. No army.

5.An“extra-historical” statement of the question.
The bourgeoisie and its yes-men.

6.Whodisorganised the army?

7.TheVinnichenkos =the Kerenskys+the Tseretelis+
the Chernovs.

8.Provocationand trap. “Glad of the Germans”....

9.Despairand phrase-mongering. Phrase-mongering and
bragging: among the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries [in
our ranks<1/10th (453 and 36 and
8=497) ][3].... (The
demoralised army....)

10.Compare1907 and 1918.

11.Thepeasantry and phrase-mongering.

12. “Breathingspace.”Defence of the fatherland.

13. 2and10; 200,000 and 1,000,000.

14.TheTilsit peace and a weak German people (onlyweak and backward). Peace and war in their
interconnection.

15.Weare waiting, while retreating, for adifferentally: the international socialist proletariat.

[1]Fourth(Extraordinary) All-Russia Congress of Sovietswas held
in Moscow from March 14 to 16, 1918. It was called to decide on
the ratification of the Brest Peace Treaty. On the eve of the
Congress, on March 13, the Bolshevik group of the Congress met to
hear Lenin’s report on the treaty (seeLenin Miscellany XI,
Second Edition, 1931, pp. 68–70). A preliminary vote in the group
yielded the following results: 453 votes for Lenin’s motion to
ratify the Brest Treaty; 36, against; 8, abstained.

OnMarch 14, Lenin gave his report on the ratification of the
peace treaty at the Congress. B. Kamkov, on behalf of the LeftS.R.s, was the rapporteur against ratification. By a roll call vote
the Congress passed Lenin’s resolution (see present edition,
Vol. 27, pp. 200–01): 784, in favour; 261, against; 115, abstained,
including the Left Communists who read out a special declaration
on the motives of their abstention.

[2]Areference to the example Lenin gave in his summing-up speech
at the Seventh Congress: “... two men are walking together and
are attacked by ten men, one fights and the other runs away—
that is treachery; but suppose we have two armies of a hundred
thousand each and there are five armies against them; one
army is surrounded by two hundred thousand and the other
must go to its aid; knowing that the other three hundred
thousand of the enemy are in ambush, should the second army go to
the aid of the first? It should not” =

(see present edition, Vol. 27,
p. 114).

[3]Theresults of the vote on the motion to ratify the Brest Peace
Treaty at a meeting of the Communist group of the Fourth (
Extraordinary) All-Russia Congress of Soviets on March 13, 1918.
See Note 564.